Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Olga Byrd Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front Oral History Project This interview series was funded in part by a contract with the National Park Service, and with the support of individual donors. Interview conducted by David Dunham in 2010 Copyright © 2016 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Olga Byrd, dated August 17, 2010. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1,000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://ucblib.link/OHC-rights. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Olga Byrd, “Rosie the Riveter, WWII Home Front Oral History Project” conducted by David Dunham in 2010, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2016. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley iii Olga Byrd Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley iv Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley v Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley vi Table of Contents Interview 1: August 17, 2010 Hour 1 1 Family background — Impact of Depression on parents — Elementary school experiences — First job at a candy shop in 7th Grade — Attending Balboa High School — Girls Athletic Association — Hour 2 27 Life in Berkeley and Albany — Commonwealth Club — Forming a women’s rights organization and Consumer advocacy group in Concord — Picketing a luncheon where Ralph Nader spoke — Backlash for political work — Attending college to study Public Administration — Port Chicago — Acheson Village — Comments on the increasing population of Richmond and San Francisco — Watching plays at the Marsh in the Mission District and the Berkeley Rep, Aurora, and Shotgun in Berkeley — Taking classes at Theater Exploration in Albany — The Red Oak at Richmond Harbor — Work on discriminatory housing cases with the Human Relations Advisory Committee in Concord during the 70s — Reflecting on training to become secretary to the UC Regents and quitting due to racism and elitism and the altering of minutes by the Regents — Retiring and working as a meeting planner for the Governor’s Conference in San Francisco, for a travel agency, and the Contra Costa County Mayor’s Conference — On staying busy after retirement. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 1 Interview 1: August 17, 2010 Dunham: Okay, I’m David Dunham, and I’m here today on August 17, 2010 with Olga Byrd as part of the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home front National Park Oral History Project, and so thank you for inviting me here today, glad we’re finally getting started. We usually start at the beginning, which is just a little about I guess where you were born and when, and a little about your family background, parents, grandparents, whatever you care to share. 1-00:00:39 Byrd: Okay, you want me to tell you that right now? Dunham: Yeah, that’d be great. 1-00:00:39 Byrd: Okay. Well, I was born in San Francisco in 1925, November 27, 1925, and my grandparents on my father’s side of the family emigrated from Sicily around 1900 I believe it was. He was the youngest of eleven children and the only one born in the United States. On my mother’s side my grandfather emigrated from Norway, and he was actually a merchant seaman, I don’t know, the story goes that he jumped ship in San Francisco, but that’s never been authenticated, so I’m not sure. I really don’t know a whole lot about my ancestry other than it goes back about, I knew my great grandmother was an orphan in Palermo in Sicily. I don’t know how she got married or came here or what, I don’t know any of that. Dunham: Your parents, then, where were they born? 1-00:01:56 Byrd: My father was born on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco right in the middle of the Italian district, and my mother was born in Berkeley, California, and only because my mother was about to be born when the big 1906 earthquake hit. My grandfather, having been a seaman, was able to find a way to transport people out of San Francisco to safety in Berkeley, including his pregnant wife. So my mother was born in Berkeley. Her mother died when she was fourteen, so she was raised then by her aunt in San Francisco. Dunham: What year did you say you were born? 1-00:02:51 Byrd: I was born in 1925 in San Francisco, and I was also born on North Beach. Oh, dear, I lost the name of the street, but it was right up from St. Peter and Paul Church at Washington Square. Filbert Street. Dunham: Is that where you lived when you were born? 1-00:03:16 Byrd: We did, yes. I was born at home, and my sister also was born at home, although we had then lived on Green Street, moved to Filbert when I was Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 2 born, and then we moved out to the Mission district, and I don’t remember anything about having lived in North Beach. Dunham: Where did you live in the Mission district? 1-00:03:38 Byrd: We lived at Holly Park Circle to begin with, which was in the Bernal Heights area, and then we moved to, not far, a block and a half to Highland Avenue, and I was raised in those places. Dunham: Okay, and what are your earliest memories of that neighborhood? 1-00:03:55 Byrd: I remember playing in Holly Park, which was a big circle, with the park right in the middle of the circle. It had a hill; I can remember playing on the hillside and tried to learn how to play tennis and playing on the swings and that’s it. It was a nice neighborhood for children, a lot of freedom for children that we had other kids around us. Dunham: How many siblings did you have? 1-00:04:30 Byrd: One, my older sister, eighteen months older, yeah. Dunham: Eighteen months older. Okay, and how about your parents, what were their lives like? 1-00:04:37 Byrd: Oh, my father was a teamster; my mother was a housewife, never worked. My father worked all the way through the Depression. Prior to his being a teamster he worked at whatever he could get I suppose, but it seemed as though he was pretty good at getting jobs. We were never denied anything at all; we were very fortunate. From some of the stories I hear from my friends, we didn’t have any of that. We were very lucky. Dunham: All right, and your neighborhood was primarily Italian? 1-00:05:19 Byrd: It was Italian, yes, primarily, I guess, and Irish, too; Irish and Italian. Dunham: Did the Italians and Irish mix? 1-00:05:34 Byrd: Well, it was— Yeah, it was okay. I didn’t pay any attention. I didn’t notice any differences. I was just a kid playing. Dunham: Yeah. What was your school experience like? Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 3 1-00:05:50 Byrd: Well, I went to the usual grammar school right across the street where we lived on Holly Park Circle, it was just right across the street. Then when we moved to Highland Avenue I had to walk to school for the seventh and eighth grade. In fact, I got my first job when I was in seventh grade. I worked for fifteen minutes a day at the local candy store, at the corner candy store during lunch hour. I was paid ten cents a day, or I could take it out in candy or a hot dog or something. I said, “No, I don’t want to do that.